ASUS N55 Core i7 15.6-in Notebook Review: Can One Laptop Do It All?

Performance and Conclusion

Performance

Equipped with a Core i7-2630QM processor, the ASUS N55 clearly isn’t messing around when it comes to performance. Besides a few slightly up-clocked variants of this same part, this is as fast a processor as you’ll find in a laptop.

Before we dive into the performance results, let’s have a look at the laptops we’ll be comparing the N55 to in this review.

Now let’s see how the N55 performs in SiSoft Sandra.

As you can see, these performance figures are about on par with the MSI GT680R, which makes sense because both that laptop and this one use the same Intel Core i7 processor. In addition, we can clearly see that these quad-core parts are much quicker than a dual-core Intel Core i5.

It’s time to dive in to the more general performance benchmarks. Let’s see where the N55 ends up.

Again, these results are solid and unsurprising. The N55 returns a respectable score of 2381, which is slightly higher than the Lenovo X1. It should be noted that this score is about 200 points less than that of a pure gaming laptop like the G74. The MSI GT680R, ASUS K53E and ASUS G74 are missing from this graph only because we did not record specific PCMark 7 sub-scores during our time with them.

The Peacekeeper and 7-Zip results show the benefits of multi-threaded performance. Peacekeeper does not do a good job of taking advantage of additional threads, so the quad-core N55 has a rough time of it. In the heavily multi-threaded 7-Zip benchmark, however, the quad-cores easily dominate the dual-core parts, and the N55 receives excellent scores that are on par with the gaming laptops.

Packing a Nvidia Geforce GT555M graphics processors with two gigabytes of RAM, the N55 is clearly meant to have some gaming chops, though it’s not going to be able to run with a pure gaming laptop. Let’s see just how much you sacrifice by going with a multimedia laptop instead of one built specifically for gaming - and how much you gain over a laptop without dedicated graphics.

The results of these synthetic tests aren't bad, but they're a fair bit off the pace of the true gaming laptops. In 3DMark 11, for example, the N55 is over 30% slower than the MSI GT680R. Let's see how that translates into real-world gaming performance.

Overall, these results are somewhat better than you might expect based off the synthetic benchmark results. In some cases, the gap between the N55 and the more powerful gaming laptop was small. The MSI GT680R, for example, was only 15% quicker than the N55 in Dawn of War 2 Retribution at a resolution of 1366x768.

The N55 proved capable of playing games with our normal benchmark detail settings at 1080p. Even Just Cause 2, the most difficult game we normally use for testing, managed an average of over 30 frames per second at low detail settings. That is a good show for any laptop, nevermind one that's not a gaming purebreed.

Make no mistake - if gaming is your primary focus, a gaming laptop would be a better choice. But if you're looking for a more general system that can also handle gaming, the N55's performance is more than adequete.

Finally, let’s wrap things up by looking at the boot and resume times.

Here we see that the ASUS N55 is better than the pure gaming laptops, which actually tend to be very slow when it comes to boot time performance. The N55’s boot time is still a bit slower than dual-core mainstream laptops, while resume performance is the best by only the slightest of margins.

Conclusion

Most computer enthusiasts won’t want to buy this laptop. For those on the move, it’s too big and bulky. For those with a fetish for mobile performance, the ASUS G-series is a better choice thanks to the faster GPU.

It’s important to remember, however, that the vast majority of consumers still buy 15.6” desktop replacements - computers that are meant to be a person’s only machine. These laptops are expected to handle everything. In this role, the ASUS N55 excels. It’s attractive, can handle both heavy productivity and 3D gaming, offers a beautiful 1080p display, and even has leading sound quality. While the price of over $1200 is high, it’s competitive considering everything that is made available here.

There are some flaws worth mentioning. They keyboard is not up to par with some other laptops of similar price, and the cheap appearance of the silver-painted keys is disappointing. Portability is also well below average. That’s not a surprise given the hardware, but it’s a trade-off potential buyers must remember, and there are some very powerful and portable laptops available in this price bracket.

Yet these small issues hardly hold back the laptop’s many other strengths. Big, bulky 15.6” laptops are not what is considered cool these days, but they have many uses. This is a laptop that can basically do it all, with the exception of travel. If you need a single laptop that will serve as your only system, and portability is not a concern, the ASUS N55 deserves your consideration.

It really depends on the bag. In my backpack, the bulk of a 5 pound laptop is slightly noticeable, but not tiring.

My messenger bag with a single strap is a different story. It's not well padded, and I can feel every pound of any laptop I stick in there. It also generally won't fit large laptops like this.

When it comes to flying, though, a laptop like this is really too large. You won't have room to use it on a plane unless you're flying first class, and its just a pain to use it on your lap when waiting to board.

lol. hells bells. are you of the ipad generation? i travelled around the planet twice over with a samsung 17inch laptop in my backpack and it was no major strain.

each time i watched a movie, played a game or listened to music i was massively glad to have a laptop of that size and performance with me. and never ever once did I sit in the middle of a movie on a cold, wet night in a foreign country thinking, "my, that laptop sure is heavy"!

for record, most hand baggage allowance is 12 kilos. this laptop weights only 2.5. are you sure you could fly with that in your bag?

i also have to say, in my experience 'messenger' bags are like 1980s school satchels; they are rectangular, clunky, inconvenient, sit awkwardly on the body and are poorly designed for carrying anything flat which could take up the space inside of them! they also seem to be sported by fashion victims, rather than practical people who wish to use powerful computing on-the-move.

each to their own, i am not knocking other - but i seriously think you have to decide which camp you are in!

It is not displaying the picture at max resolution. I had it in slideshow mode, which framed the photo automatically, and I didn't even realize that you could not see the bezel in that photo until you mentioned it.

The bezel on this laptop is actually rather slim, so no worries there.

the keyboard on this laptop is a massive letdown. I spent nearly £700 on this laptop and I'm struggling to type because the keys are mashed so closely together with poor feedback that on average I mistype one out of every 3 keys. these type of major flaws are easy to gloss over for a reviewer but if you have to work with it on a daily basis then its a show stopper.

i have one of these on order its the n55sl-s2019v. when i was looking i also considered the acer aspire but every model on display had keys missing, and as i do a bit of typing (on and off) was put off by this and went with the asus simply because the keyboard had bigger easier to make out keys(well that and the spec of course)and lets face it the odd button in a different place is no biggie at least is not a cramped keyboard making way for a bloody annoying touch sensitive volume hub effort that you cant even look at without it going into spasms

I'm heading away for 12 mths and mothballing my workstation.. Want to do video edit with edius6 while away. Sounds like it might be capable. Anything similar specs,price with better keyboard? Can lug usb board if pressed.

I've done a fair bit of research and I think this is definitely your best option. The N55sl that is. Out of a shortlist of 5 I chose this laptop and I've been in I.T. repairs and sales for the past 10 years. You really can't go wrong.

Does it have a back lit key board . I have a dell XPS studio 1640 and I love the back lit keyboard . but I've had it for several years and it is starting to show some wear . thinking about getting the (ASUS N55 Core i7 15.6-in Notebook.
Does anyone know ????